Home
by Razzella
Summary: "I'm so fucking sorry." Annie sobbed into the air, realizing she had almost destroyed her soulmate – the idea of turning someone into Nora made her feel sick. She squeezed her hand, trying to convey her apology even as she tried to force herself up.
1. Chapter 1

Hancock hadn't noticed it initially. A light tickle across his knuckles here, the feeling of something brushing against his neck there. Given, he was high off his ass eighty percent of the time and had experienced some strange things in that time, but looking back on it he felt like he should have noticed. Touch was always the first sign of a soulmate, but it wasn't until he felt the distinct sensation of being shot through the calf and almost toppled down the stairs of the Third Rail one evening that it occurred to him maybe the universe was done being a dick to him and had finally given him something good.

Naturally, worry had pierced him shortly after it clicked what had been happening to him over the last several days; a bit of panic was natural at the thought of your soulmate limping through the wasteland wounded. But around three in the morning, after a sleepless night of heavy drinking and chem usage, he felt the light caress across his knuckles again and figured until the bond finished forming that was the best confirmation of safety he could hope to get. He wondered how many times she'd gotten a contact high just by touching the bond and almost cackled in delight at the thought, despite not being certain if that was possible this early on in the bonds development.

Hancock was certain it was a she, now that he was aware of their bond; he could feel her as if she was right beside him, or, more accurately, a part of him. Her heartbeat thumped away in time with his, obviously more relaxed than earlier; he could honestly say he'd never felt more foolish for not realizing it sooner. It was strange, to feel someone becoming such an important part of you so quickly – as if they were slowly fusing together.

Taste came next, and he was almost scared to eat anything for fear she would hate it. But then again, if she was out wandering the wasteland that was the commonwealth, she was probably one of the scavengers low on supplies and dying for a taste of anything that resembled a real meal, so he didn't feel too terrible when he caved and sat down to eat dinner at the Third Rail. A wisp of touch across his lips let him know she had tasted it; he smirked when the familiar sensation of licking his lips followed shortly after. So she liked Mirelurk Cakes then, he noted as he filed the memory away for later.

After two days, he finally got a taste of what she was eating – and the worrywart part of him knew it was because she hadn't eaten in a while, after he'd felt the pang of hunger pains coming on – and he almost winced. It tasted like dog food, and while he wasn't one to judge doing what you had to do for survival, he couldn't wait until he could actually talk to her, but that one always came last. He'd just have to wait a little while longer before he could get her here.

There wasn't a specific point where he realized he was able to feel her emotions. There was a flicker of something he knew wasn't his every once in a while, and he hadn't really cared until the day he could smell burning flesh. He'd covered his face at the stench, but it hadn't been enough to shield him when suddenly he was seeing the world through her eyes and a deathclaw was barreling towards her. The fear was undiluted, like her normal broadcastings to him were, as the creature raised its claw to slice down on her.

He had stumbled back with a shout, alerting his guards something was up as he cursed and tried to speak to her – to help her through this shitty situation – but she never heard him. He was convinced she was about to die, and he'd never hear her voice, or feel her skin, and part of him knew the universe was too much of a dick to just let him have this one good thing.

Hancock hadn't been that scared in years, even as he watched her blow up multiple vehicles every time the thing stumbled near one; she'd tried to keep her distance after the first whack to her power armor fucked up her right leg, and the pain seemed to sear into him, making him wonder whether she was simply stumbling on a faintly injured leg or if she'd broken it. It took no time at all before she turned the minigun on the beast and it finally collapsed, leaving her a hot mess of adrenaline, even as she fought to get out of the suit. _Oh, baby_. He'd thought, relieved and pained as she stumbled away from the suit and fell back against the door of the building behind her, trying to catch her breath and stop the shaking of her hands.

There was a ghostly ache in his leg from her own pain, and he wished he could have comforted her more than just the gentle caress of her neck and face, though it seemed to help matters significantly when she realized he was there. Her eyes fluttered closed and he felt a squeeze of his hand; he took one of his own hands and squeezed in return as her eyes opened and she steeled herself to stand. About that time a woman in a vault suit came sprinting over to her, checking her over hurriedly even as she tried to get to her feet; five others followed behind the dark-haired woman, with various looks of relief and worry.

 _You saved these people, didn't you?_ He wasn't sure how he knew that exactly – the handshake that the man in the fancy hat gave her was some indication, he supposed – but his heart swelled with pride. A woman after his own heart, it seemed. Unfortunately, either from the crash of her adrenaline or the pain she was experiencing, his soulmate hadn't managed to walk two steps before passing out and their connection was severed.

" _Seriously, Nora?"_ He heard her for the first time in the wee hours of the morning – just before dawn broke through the sky. It had actually woken him up, to hear her exasperation as clearly as if she was in the same room; he focused on the bond and his world drifted to the background. At first, he wasn't sure what he was seeing. There were only a few people milling around, but after several seconds of thought, he realized she was in Diamond City. His heart sputtered in excitement when it occurred to him just how close she was.

" _People need hope, Annie."_ The woman his soulmate – _Annie_ – was arguing with responded, and he felt the woman he was destined to be with roll her eyes.

" _They need to get it together and start trying to get some law and order around this place instead of letting everything continue to go to shit. Their world_ sucks _, Nora. It sucks and you know it, and lying to them about it is only going to make them comfortable living like this. People are starving, and dying, and oppressed, and sold! Slavery! They need to grow a pair and do something about their situation."_ He listened in a little longer, figuring out that apparently Nora had given Piper an interview and she'd spewed some pseudo-inspirational crap about how well humanity was doing considering the nuclear fallout, which presented a whole new bucket of questions he wanted to ask as soon as the moment felt right. Hancock found himself infatuated with the way she saw the world, even though her opinion was relatively negative of the people in it. Sadly, he dozed back off before she calmed down enough he thought it would be appropriate to make an introduction.

By the time he'd woken up and checked back in on her, she was back at Sanctuary. He burned the name into his memory as soon as he saw the sign. At least he knew where to start if he had to go out and find her. He watched as she welded some metal together, felt the heat from the flames and the occasional spark that made her jump when it came too close to her clothes.

"Hey there, hot stuff." His voice seemed to have spooked her, because she jerked to attention and nearly dropped her welding rod before turning it off and glancing around curiously. He took note of the rubble that was laying around, and the figures of a few people working to change that in the distance.

"… _Hi?"_ She murmured hesitantly, and he felt the bashfulness roll over him like a warm blanket. It was quickly discovered that she was not a verbal person, well, she was prone to word vomit when she was worked up, but otherwise pretty soft spoken. Annie communicated things better through actions. Hancock smiled.

"John Hancock; it's nice to finally speak to you, sunshine." Disbelief, then amusement. The feelings warmed him thoroughly. He couldn't imagine life before feeling her in everything he was, despite it having only been two weeks at the most; he wondered how he's survived before her.

" _As in, historical figure John Hancock? Because I'm pretty sure he was dead even before my time. I'm Annabelle Rhodes."_ Before her time? He decided to puzzle over it later, and he felt her grow flustered when he said her name, meekly insisting he could just call her Annie. It was nice to know she was just as into the bond as he was, at least. Even if it was a bit strange to be bonded so late in life. He remembered the woman he'd seen before – Nora – was wearing a vault suit and wondered if they had _both_ come out of a vault. It seemed obvious, when he thought about it longer.

"You can just call me John." He kicked back on his couch, popping a few mentats into his mouth as she started working on… what was she working on?

" _I'm building a wall around Sanctuary."_ She responded as if she heard the thought and he furrowed his brow a bit in confusion. He'd never heard of soulmates reading minds before. As he opened his mouth to ask her about it, she continued babbling.

" _It's a pretty safe place, but I'd feel a lot better with some control over who can get in here, y'know? And from my understanding, walls seem to work pretty well."_ Hancock snickered, nodding his head in agreement.

"Yeah, seems to work for Goodneighbor." Shamelessly, he dropped his location and could practically feel the gears turning in her head. Annie rolled her shoulders, humming thoughtfully and his smirk shifted to a genuine smile at the soft flutter of nerves that collected in her stomach.

" _So you're in Goodneighbor?"_ She tried to sound casual, but there was a giddy undertone that made his heart swell with affection. Though, it spoke volumes about her knowledge of the commonwealth that the name didn't make her even the slightest bit tense. _Or her bravery_ , he thought, giving her the benefit of the doubt as the image of her gunning down a deathclaw surfaced in his mind. Most people flinched, already having some idea of its reputation, but his little vaultie didn't. Maybe he was just overthinking it – Mentats, y'know?

"Oh, sweetheart, I run Goodneighbor." He rasped, smug. It was so quick he almost thought he'd imagined it. A heat pulsed in his lower abdomen, familiar and yet so different from what he was used to. But then it was gone with an awkward shift from his soulmate, who was feeling particularly flustered by her own reaction, it seemed. Part of him wanted to comment on it, but when she quickly shifted the conversation to rambling about what a pain farming was, he decided to let it go for now. They had plenty of time to address her kinks, right now he just wanted to hear her voice.


	2. Chapter 2

Annabelle Rhodes stumbled through what remained of Vault 111, hurrying along and checking every pod she saw. Most of the levers were jammed, but a quick peak inside the pods usually revealed a hideously freezer-burnt corpse that made her stomach roll in discomfort. Everyone she knew was dead. Neighbors, friends, loved ones – all dead. Some unseen force was compelling her to check all of them just in case she wasn't the only lucky survivor. It took her five minutes of searching before she heard the rhythmic thumping; she'd been on top of the pod faster than should have been humanly possible and pulled the lever.

To her shock, Nora came tumbling out, gasping for air and heaving up whatever liquids had collected in their body over the time they were frozen. Almost instantly, the woman had lurched across to another pod – very nearly shoving Annie out of the way and to the floor in her hurry – revealing Nate, and Annie flinched away from the scene as Nora's desperate whispered prayers went unanswered. In the next moment, the woman was screaming.

Annie, like all children, had learned early on that the death of a soulmate could kill you. It was one of the reasons the war had been protested so heavily – it was why the United States had hesitated to drop nuclear bombs on other countries. Killing one person often killed their partner, but after a solid minute of screaming, Nora was reduced to wails that sounded more tormented than anything the younger woman had ever heard. It was also said that if a soulmates partner did live on, they were never the same; many of them admitted to wanting to die anyway. Hence why Annie never cared that she didn't have a soulmate. It was someone to take care of, and during wartime, that was almost impossible. There were riots even in places like Boston, and people were losing jobs and families were suffering all across the country. She'd been better off alone.

"Mrs. Nora…" Annie practically whispered her name as the woman sobbed and clutched her husband's dead body. Nora had always been a strong, kind woman. She'd become a lawyer in a time when women were expected to have children and be homebodies; when she'd heard that Annie wanted to be an engineer, she'd thrown a block party and given her two hundred dollars as a gift. Of course, Annabelle had been almost finished with her degree when she moved to Sanctuary to escape her family, but it was the thought that meant something. It was enough that Annie reached out and touched the poor woman's shoulder; the dark-haired female looked shocked that she was there, as if she hadn't seen her before then.

"Nora, we have to go." They had to get out of this tomb. But the older woman just let out a sound so miserable Annie felt tears stinging her eyes. "If we don't go, we're going to die down here like everyone else, and I know you don't really want that. We have to find out what happened here – someone has to be held accountable." That seemed to snap her out of it; her blue eyes widened as she released Nate and pulled his wedding ring off his finger, promising to find who did this and find their baby, even through her hiccups and obvious hesitancy to leave his body here.

"Let's go." Nora's eyes had hardened; determination to make someone pay for whatever had happened down here was probably the only thing keeping her moving. Whatever it was, Annie was grateful for it, because she wasn't ready to just lay down and die down here, but she sure wasn't going to leave a mourning woman behind to starve. A shriek down the hallway had the younger girl sprinting towards her, all but tripping over her own feet as she whacked a giant roach out of the air and into the wall, gagging as its guts seeped out of the corpse.

"Those are everywhere down here." She informed her, passing her the baton. Annie grabbed the first Pip-Boy off the first skeleton she found, but Nora had flinched at even the idea of taking from the dead. It had been a brief argument where Annie told her it wasn't as if the dead were going to need it as much as they did, and that had been that. There was a pistol in the Overseers office that the red-headed woman promptly stuffed into the backpack she'd found lying about, and another Pip-Boy that Annabelle collected for Nora to wear.

The older woman didn't argue as she strapped it to her wrist and let Annie have some target practice with the pistol she'd found. The roaches practically exploded, and that made the poor girl sick to her stomach, but they powered on to the vault door, which was still firmly sealed shut; for the first time Annie felt the prickling of panic in her chest. Were they stuck forever? How did they open the door? Nora apparently had an idea, as she approached a control pad and plugged her Pip-Boy in, leaving Annie to cheer theatrically when the warning lights began flashing and the door to the vault rolled open.

What she would only describe as survivors guilt hit her the moment she stepped onto the elevator; the thought of all the people they'd left to rot in this death trap made her stomach roll, and Annie found herself rubbing her knuckles nervously. The sensation grounded her, and for a moment she thought maybe she felt a ghost of a touch run behind her thumb, but brushed it off. She didn't have a soulmate, so it's not like anyone could actually be touching her. After a moment of being overwhelmed by the way the vault suit clung to her skin like a vice, she managed to get it together and work through the issue long enough to be startled when she stepped off the elevator and into the world above ground.

"Oh my God…" Nora breathed, placing a hand over her mouth and taking Annie's in her free one. The sensation made the young girl flinch, but it went unnoticed as they both took in the place they'd called home. Everything they'd worked for was gone; neither of them even knew where to start to fix things, much less where to go. Were they the last people left alive? Had _anything_ made it? Annie told herself that didn't matter, because the fact was that they had – her and Nora were alive and well – and they had to rebuild. They had to survive, or all of it was pointless. Luckily, her dark-haired companion seemed to agree, and after a moment of adjustment, the duo went trekking down the road to Sanctuary.


	3. Chapter 3

Neither of them wanted to stay in Sanctuary, after seeing all the damage, so they'd grabbed Codsworth and headed a little ways up the road to the old Red Rocket and set up shop. It was easy enough, between the two of them, even though Nora was mostly a hot mess. Annie tried to be patient with the woman – reminding herself that many people didn't even live through something like losing their soulmate, and Nora had to have a strength in her Annie just wasn't seeing right then – but after the first few nights of her sulking and Annie being shot in the leg by some bunch of assholes Codsworth said were called _Rust Devils_ , she was having trouble with it. Luckily, Codsworth was very helpful in removing the offending metal that was buried in her calf, and even had a stimpak on hand that patched her up right quick.

Annie was sitting on her bed caressing her knuckles in the way she usually did to ground herself when she felt the faintest touch run over her neck. She had been suspecting for a while before that moment that someone was responding to her touches; someone was actually out there waiting for their soulmate to find them. The red-head had played it off as a trick of her imagination, keen on avoiding the very real, and very frightening possibility that she'd woken up in this new world and her soulmate had been born and was just waiting on her to claw herself out of the vault. It was frightening, even as she let the soft caress lull her to sleep that night.

Nora had locked herself in the garage, and while Annie was mildly concerned for her, it wasn't enough to drag her from the comfort of the bed her and Codsworth had dragged back home for them; she certainly wasn't going to go beating the door down at three in the morning. So, she let the soft touches of her soulmate put her to sleep and decided she'd fret about it all in the morning.

Unfortunately, when morning came, her anxieties came back two fold. Here she was in this post-apocalyptic world with a woman barely clinging to sanity, an old house keeping robot who had went a little off his rocker sometime in the last two hundred years, and a dog that seemed way too smart for its own good – and she had a soulmate out there waiting on her. That was a solid four people she had to take care of, when normally she was only concerned with taking care of herself. The second time the Rust Devils try to raid them, Annie puts a bullet in their heads without any preamble because that's what she needed to do to keep her makeshift family alive.

"Ms. Annie," Codsworth was more of a conversationalist that Nora, who was still wilting away in the garage. "May I suggest we build a wall around Red Rocket to prevent the rift raft from getting inside so easily?" Of course he would come up with something like that, since he was the one usually left cleaning the gore from whatever surface blood ended up splattered on, and Annie agreed with his sentiment it would make things easier. One way in, and one way out.

So over the next few days her and Codsworth start building a pathetic excuse of a wall, and when Nora finally emerges from the garage with swollen eyes and looking exhausted but offers to help anyway, Annie doesn't refuse her. The mixture of wood and barbed wire around their little slice of heaven does the trick, and as soon as she can, Annabelle crafts some turrets from the left over junk Codsworth brings them from Sanctuary and puts them at the gate. Its two days after the wall is complete before they're attacked again, and Annie never has to lift a finger. Nora had the bright idea of making the roof a greenhouse when Codsworth began explaining the perks of having a farm to them, and Annie goes along with it because it's the most Nora has talked about something in days and she doesn't want to lose her to the stifling silence.

When Trashcan Carla shows up, Annie almost shoots first and asks questions later, and while they can't afford anything the woman has, she accepts a trade for some of the junk they hadn't found a use for, giving them water and ammo and some mutfruit seeds. She stays for a few days, telling them about Diamond City, and the idea of people has Nora looking steely and determined again, so they make a plan to travel there once things are better set up back home.

Mostly, Annie ignored her soulmate, outside of a few light touches here and there that are mostly for her but he responds well to. She knows it's a he, somehow, and often takes comfort in the way she can feel him breathe and the steady thump of his heartbeat beside hers. She'd felt particularly silly when she'd tasted something he ate for the first time and almost collapsed with how good it was after days of nothing to eat. Her fingers had brushed her lips and she felt a ghost of a smirk that was clearly coming from him pull over her face. And she'd felt the wince when he realized her and Nora were still eating canned dog food, much to everyone's disgust.

Their trip to Diamond city was postponed when they stumbled across Preston Garvey, who had been begging for help from a balcony. It was Nora's terrible idea to charge in and save them, which led to Nora taking a bullet in her shoulder that Preston had to fish out while Annie hopped in the Power Armor to annihilate the remainder of the raiders. Bodies were burning from the cars that had exploded during the firefight when she heard the first rumble. By the second one, she was already readying her weapon and when the scaly beast leapt up from the ground, she screamed. It charged, catching her by surprise even as she rained hellfire and bullets down on it, blowing up cars and when it caught her and she felt its claw whack against her armor, she was certain she was dead.

"Fuck!" Annie cursed, stumbling back and repeating the phrase over and over like some kind of prayer as she continued firing the minigun; eventually the creature collapsed and she was desperate to escape the armor, feeling every bit as though she was trapped in a tomb. Her leg was burning, reminding her that she was injured even as she fell on her ass and scooted away, sobbing in relief and terror as the adrenaline managed to keep her from outright fainting. Her soulmate was caressing her gently, trying to soothe the thunderous beat of her heart and take her mind of the pain, she was sure, but the tears kept coming even after she began to relax and closed her eyes.

"I'm so fucking sorry." Annie sobbed into the air, realizing she had almost destroyed her soulmate – the idea of turning someone into Nora made her feel sick. She squeezed her hand, trying to convey her apology even as she tried to force herself up. It wasn't safe to just be still out in the open anymore. After Nora found her and the survivors of the Minutemen, she shook Preston's hand and promptly fainted, postponing their adventure to Diamond City even longer.

It took two days for her to be healed up and them to head to Diamond City. Annie hadn't wanted to go, initially, with her new fear of ruining her soulmate, but she knew she couldn't let Nora go alone, so she agreed. The interview with Piper had made Annabelle sick, though. They'd stayed the evening after Nora found Nick Valentines place of residence and asked the man to help her track down Shaun, which he'd agreed to readily. That morning, Annie had given Nora a piece of her mind, and the older woman had answered in a tired voice that people needed hope. It was something her little companion pondered the remainder of the day, not even noticing when her soulmate eavesdropped on the conversation.

No, it wasn't until they headed up to Sanctuary to help Preston work on building a steel wall around the settlement that she realized their bond was almost fully formed. The only thing that remained was to sleep together and it would be completed; they'd be official, indisputable soulmates. The idea had her giddy and frightened all in one, even as she introduced herself to the Mayor of Goodneighbor, feeling smaller than she had in a long while. They were built for one another, and despite her very quick attraction – and being mortified at what the idea of being somewhere John had control (she swore it was just because she craved the safety that having a soulmate in charge of a place could bring) did to her – she felt like she didn't quite stack up the way she'd hoped she would. Those fears ate at her even into the evening, when she'd retreated back to the Red Rocket and left Nora with her friends in Sanctuary.


	4. Chapter 4

The first time Hancock touched himself, Annabelle all but collapsed. Weak-kneed and never having so much as touched _herself_ , much less let anyone else, she'd been a hot mess for hours, locking herself away in her bedroom in mortification. The sensation was intense and it left her feeling needy and wanton, which she decided was not a good look for her, despite the fact she knew he'd disagree profusely. Annie hadn't experienced any kind of sexual desire before, but she'd been burning with it then. Mostly due to past trauma and the fact she was so prone to sensory overload that the idea of touching herself made her tremble in terror, but there was also the fact that such things were not discussed in her time.

Sexual acts were reserved for soulmates alone, and since she didn't have one, she wasn't supposed to partake in that particular area of life. It also didn't help that she'd been kidnapped and raped when she was roughly fifteen, and then shamed by her family into keeping her mouth shut about it. Because he had a soulmate, and she didn't, and even if her parents had believed her (they didn't), she was obligated to spare the man's relationship no matter his crimes against her; it would have brought great shame to their family if she'd tried to accuse him of the heinous things he did to her in the three weeks he'd had her. But even had that not happened, sex was meant to be quiet and personal and something nobody discussed outside of with their partner. There were whispers of dreadfully debauched things that she'd been fortunate enough to avoid with her capture, but they were just that – whispers.

"John." Annie hissed as she tried to sound firm, outraged even, but from the rumbling laugh she received, she'd failed. His laughter was followed by a low groan when the sound shot straight to her core, earning him another flash of heat in response. It was roughly one in the morning, and Codsworth had returned to Sanctuary with Nora when the woman decided she was ready to move back home, so she was painfully aware of how alone she was. Well, aside from Dogmeat who had a bed inside but preferred to watch the gate in his doghouse outside the station.

 _"Annabelle."_ Her name was a soft hum on his lips that made her squirm, even had she not been feeling the ghostly sensations of him jerking himself off. It was strange to feel so much pleasure, as she didn't have the proper equipment to normally simulate it, and some part of her was aware that they were in a sensations loop. He felt good, making her feel good, making him feel good, and so on and so forth; it was heightening the whole experience to the point it was almost unbearable.

 _"Annie, touch yourself."_ The command was gentle, leaving room for her to refuse if she wanted to; right then, she did want to, but more on the grounds that she could feel herself shaking from the overstimulation and she was pretty positive even trying to give in to him would make her faint.

"I-I've never…" Her hips jerked in time with his as he let out another low groan, sounding more like a growl, and the noise seemed to rumble through her.

 _"It's okay if you're not ready."_ Against every shred of reason in her, she let out a needy whimper, his name just barely audible in the soft keening sound, and that seemed to be enough to push him over the edge; his orgasm took her tumbling with it. The white-hot flash had her toes curling and her body had stiffened almost painfully. One arm had snapped up, needing something to hold on to – some sentimental part of her wanted it to be him – and she gripped the metal headboard like it was a lifeline. For all she knew, it could have been because she felt like she was drowning, even as she came down and noticed John was cooing soft words of affection to her, caressing everywhere from her stomach to her cheek.

 _"Shh, I'm 'ere, sunshine."_ Annie felt mortified to realize she'd been crying, and suddenly her clothes felt very restricting, despite being nothing more than an old dress she'd found in one of her drawers back home; she practically tore the garment off as she focused on the way John was breathing. Deep and steady, like he'd expected her to need it.

"I'm so sorry." She blurted out into the darkness of her room, and he chuckled as she settled herself back under her blankets, pointedly ignoring the way her legs were still trembling.

 _"S'normal, when it's not something you're used to."_ There was a question in his tone that she wasn't ready to answer yet, even when he began tracing patterns into her stomach and she could feel the warmth pooling in her core once more. His smirk was almost tangible, but neither of them acted on her growing arousal, for which she was thankful. Annie was still processing what had just happened to her at all, much less debating if she could even withstand another onslaught like that again.

"It's not." She murmured into the night as he shifted his soft touches to her face. "Never had a soulmate, so I never, well, never willingly… Only people with soulmates got to experience… _that_." Johns petting had stilled for a moment and she would have thought he was sleeping had she not peaked through his eyes and saw him staring at the old wooden roof of his bedroom. He resumed after a moment and she let out a breath she didn't realize she'd been holding. It occurred to her that she was letting him touch her; she had been since the beginning. But the feather-light ghost touches were so soothing in comparison to the average human touch, which always seemed to grate on her nerves.

 _"Oh, we're going to have so much fun, love."_ The quiet, sleepy promise made her shiver in nervous anticipation, making John laugh as the sensation bounced back to him through their bond. Eventually, his caresses lulled her to sleep, and he followed shortly after her; the pair slept much later into the morning than either should have.


	5. Chapter 10

Annabelle Rhodes was a lot of thing. Engineer. Soulmate. Probably a functional alcoholic. But mother? No. One of the most upsetting things she had found in the wastes was Super Mutants. Feral ghouls ran a close second since they also wanted to eat her, but with the mutants, they _roasted_ people. Clutching the child to her chest, she felt waves of pity for it. The little girl couldn't have been more than two, and she was understandably hysterical. Her baby brother was in Nora's arms as the women tried to soothe him as they hid on top of a nearby building, lying flat to hide from the beasts wandering below that had eaten the duos parents.

"What the fuck do we do?" Annie was panicking, shaking as she pet the toddlers blond curls down – such a bright contrast to her own red locks. Neither child would be quiet and she was debating the bravery it must have taken to even _have_ kids out here, much less travel with them. Nora had finally calmed the infant, but the child in her arms was still wailing incriminatingly.

"Goodneighbor is the closest town." Nora whispered, and Annie let out a strangled sound, reaching out subconsciously for the calm of her soulmate. He was aware of her almost immediately, connecting with her halfway and quietly assessing the situation. Annie couldn't stop shaking to save her life, literally, as the door to the roof nearly blew off the hinges and a huge, lumbering green monster came through with more flourish than she could appreciate. Hancock's panic only amplified hers when the super mutant shouted triumphantly, and she shoved the toddler at Nora – probably more roughly than she had intended – and aimed with trembling hands. Gunfire woke up the baby, who started wailing as Nora looked around for an escape route.

"How far is it?" Annie asked, gunning down the second super mutant who came bounding up the stairs.

"I don't think I'll make it with her." Nora whispered as Annie reloaded, thankful Hancock was doing his best not to distract her. Glancing back, the tiny blond was clinging to Nora's leg, still wailing.

"That's not what I asked!" She hissed, looking around for Dogmeat. Laying eyes on the German Shepard, she grit her teeth. He'd gotten her out of a lot of terrible situations, but against super mutants he was practically a mosquito.

"Dogmeat," His ears perked at the sound of her voice. "Protect the babies, okay, boy? Understand?" He parked enthusiastically then hunched down with a growl, stalking over to stand in front of Nora.

 _"Where are you?"_ John asked during the lull, and part of Annie wanted to lie; wanted him to stay away and safe. _"Annabelle!"_ The sharp tone in his voice wiped the idea away completely as she fired at the third to make it to the rooftop entrance.

"Too close to Swans Pond to be safe," Annie said, looking out past some of the buildings, then pulled up her Pip-Boy to give him a visual of where she was in relation. "We heard the kids screaming their little hearts out and just… pissed off some super mutants when we snuck in and bolted with them." A shout, she fired a few more rounds as they tried to push their way over the bodies of their comrades to get to them.

"And I'm running out of ammo." She muttered, more to herself, but his spike of panic and irritation made her flinch as she reloaded, debating if she could shove the four goons she'd killed far enough back to close the door again.

 _"I'm on my way. Fahrenheit!"_ The connection diminished as he released the bond. She was too focused on the situation to bother checking in on what exactly he was doing.

"Annie!" Nora's screech of terror drew the younger woman's attention to the beeping. If Annie detonated it, the building was bound to collapse. It'd somehow survived one nuclear bomb, but she didn't think it would make two.

"Fuck, fuck, _fuck_!" She cursed, sprinting to the door and following through on her plan to close it again. She rolled one of the dead bodies – who were _ridiculously_ heavy – to block the door, despite knowing it wouldn't stop the suicider if he really wanted to get at them.

"Nora, we have to jump." She said simply, looking at the one building short enough she thought they had a chance of landing on it.

"They won't make it." The older woman argued, clutching both children as she looked at the building. It was going to hurt for _them_ to hit that concrete; there was no telling what it'd do to the two vulnerable kids they had saved from certain death.

Annie, in another life, had been a free-runner. She knew she would make the leap no problem, but she'd never tried anything like this in her past life. Nora had been her main inspiration for the hobby, seeing as she was also sticking it to the man in her own way, by becoming a lawyer in a male dominated world. Hell, when she'd found out Annie was trying to become an engineer she'd thrown a party, and they'd barely known each other then.

"Tuck and roll, or we're all dead for sure." Annie scooped up the crying toddler, whose voice was thankfully hoarse and forcing her to quiet down somewhat. She loosened the metal plate she'd been using as chest armor and dropped the kid inside, pressed against her chest despite the tight squeeze. It wasn't perfect, but as she tightened it back up she found herself praying the kid wouldn't slip out and make it all for nothing.

"I-I can't do this!" Nora insisted urgently, and Annie, not for the first time, found herself wondering what this woman _could_ do.

"You wanna save Shaun?" She demanded as the suicide roared, pushing at the door. Annie threw her gun over her shoulder, backing up a few feet. Nora nodded frantically, tears in her eyes.

"Gotta be alive to do it. Watch me, and copy. There's almost no way you can miss this jump if you push off enough. Just don't drop the kid." About the time she sprinted and made a leap for it, she heard the door burst open and silently prayed Nora would jump. Surely her life was worth more than a broken limb. Annie rolled when she hit the ground, but it didn't stop her from almost crushing the toddler strapped to her chest and almost breaking her wrist to keep the kids head from bouncing off pavement.

To her surprise, Nora almost landed on top of her, screaming baby in her arms even as there was an uncomfortable crack of the older woman herself hitting pavement. There was a screech, but she quieted almost immediately, sucking in a deep breath. The baby was still crying, which she took as a good sign. Dogmeat actually _did_ land on top of her, knocking the air from her lungs as she scrambled for her gun. Before the super mutant decided to also make the leap of faith, Annie aimed her riffle and fired off a few shots, somehow managing to hit the detonator that blew him to pieces and brought the roof of their former hiding spot down.

" _Annabelle, tell me right now you weren't on top of that building."_ Hancocks voice was a relief despite his anxiety as the building collapsed, and she couldn't bring herself to move for a minute.

"Nora heard the suicider and I made the executive decision to risk broken limbs over certain death. I think she broke something in the landing, but I'm fine. The kids seem fine." She wheezed, pulling the armor off her body to check on the kid. Sniffling and obviously still terrified, the kid was clinging to her for protection, but for some reason had quieted down. Probably in pain from all the crying and wailing, she figured. Nora groaned lowly

" _We're about a block away, is it clear?"_ Annie gently put the kid on her feet and forced herself to hobble over to the edge of the building, peaking over the top. There were a few more mutants, but she didn't bother saying as much when she felt his presence behind her eyes. The sensation was strangely comforting; shortly after, the sound of gunfire, for once, gave her great relief. She stumbled over to Nora, who was sobbing softly in pain and dug out a Stimpak and some Jet. It took a few tries to get the vein, but when she did Nora practically purred in relief. Pressing the inhaler to her lips, Annie watched as her whole body slumped in relaxation in one deep breath.

"I think this was worse than the deathclaw." The red-head said quietly, and Hancock scoffed in disbelief. She watched through his eyes for a moment, anxious about him getting hurt but remembering she had gunned down five of the bastards, so surely he could handle the remaining three.

" _Relax, Sunshine, it'll all be over in just a minute."_


	6. Chapter 11

"Can you get down from there?" Hancock asked, looking at the roof his soulmate was hiding on. It hadn't occurred to anyone that there was no easy way back down to the street when the decision had been made to switch buildings.

 _"I can, but Nora is about as doped up as I can get her – she broke her arm trying not to land on the kid, I think – and the two kids aren't old enough to climb down on their own. Think you could catch them if I dropped them down to you? Oh, and Dogmeat."_ He was unusually strong for his physique, but the idea of catching children being tossed off a roof seemed overwhelming for some reason. Then again, he'd done more dangerous things.

"Yeah, I think we can do that." Fahrenheit was at his back, watching to be sure nothing snuck up on them as he watched a head of red curls tied back in a pathetic excuse for a pony tail peak over the top. She started with the dog, for whatever reason – testing his strength, probably – and when he caught him with ease, she moved to the toddler, who squealed the whole way down. It was only about a two story drop, but he was sure the kid was disoriented from her rough day, because when she looked at him she didn't even scream.

She just clung to his leg as Annie peaked over the side with the infant, seeming unsure. After a moment, she shifted and started climbing down, with one hand and he felt his stomach lurch. The kid was cradled to her body and after a few almost-missteps, she finally dropped down in front of him and handed the kid off without making eye contact.

"Nora! You're gonna have to try and climb. I'll catch you if you slip, okay? Don't think about it too much." She shouted up as a dark-haired woman popped her head over the edge. It was obvious this woman had little experience doing things like this, because almost as soon as she moved over the side, she slipped. She was able to catch herself, thankfully, because he wasn't looking forward to having to tote both women back home with injured limbs. It was painfully slow, watching her get down, and he realized why it was Annie had been in the power armor fighting off the death claw instead of Nora. When the older woman was almost to the bottom, she dropped and landed ungracefully on her feet, stumbling into his soulmate. He noticed she flinched from the contact and frowned a bit as she gently pushed the woman back; he would have felt the anxiety radiating off of her even without their soulmate bond.

But then she turned to him and he realized that she was about to actually _see him_. Ruined skin and all; the idea made his heart drop. To her credit, Annie didn't flinch away or look disgusted; she just gave him a shy smile. He felt her surprise through the bond, though, and tried to stifle his disappointment, fearful she'd get the wrong idea of where it came from. Naturally, she felt it and her cheeks turned red with embarrassment and pain that he didn't know how to soothe. Sure, they'd talked, but it wasn't really any deep conversation. They hadn't gotten that far in their relationship.

"Nice to finally meet you, sweetheart. Though I do wish it would have been under better circumstances." Hancock rasped and felt the sharp pain in his chest lessen with hers, but it remained there, throbbing uncomfortably. If he couldn't have felt it, he wouldn't have known from the dazzling smile she gave him; for a moment he was breathless.

"It's nice to put a face to the name." He resisted the impulse to take her into his arms, but the urge was so overpowering he couldn't help but to slowly take her hand in his, gauging her reaction. She did flinch, then, a swirl of anxiety building that immediately burst into something he couldn't name when his skin grazed hers. Before he could pull away, about to give her one of his normal self-depreciating jokes, she gripped it a little tighter, seeming uncertain as her green eyes flickered down to their joined hands. The pain he'd inadvertently caused her faded substantially and he felt the tension drain out of his body, even when she let go with a small smile.

"Annnnnie." Nora whine and the spell Hancock and his soulmate had been under dissipated. "Is this your soulmate?" She whispered conspiratorially and Hancock felt his heart do a little flip when she laughed, nodding shyly; he noted the glance she gave him from under her lashes and his normal confident smirk flickered into place.

"John," A shudder rolled down his spine the way his name rolled off her tongue. "This is Nora; Nora, this is my soulmate, John." Nora sighed wistfully, her glossy eyes seeming to gaze at something that wasn't there.

"Thanks for the rescue." He tried to ignore her dangling arm, really, he did, but it was pretty grotesque to watch it just flap around when she moved.

"No problem; we've got a doctor in Goodneighbor that can probably help with… that." He gestured to her broken appendage and she looked down, seeming surprised.

"Oh. It's broken, huh?" Hancock didn't laugh at the woman, as much as he wanted to; handing off the infant awkwardly to Annie, he stepped over to Fahrenheit and tried to ignore Nora's rambling. A quick conversation about the woman's importance to him and Annie had another silent protector to watch over her while she was in Goodneighbor. It wasn't that he didn't trust his people, but he _didn't_ trust his people. Especially not with her.

He took a moment to take her in while she wasn't looking, trying not to give away too much as he lit a cigarette, wondering about her opinions on him. So far all he'd felt was that familiar hum of affection that she always had, with her varying uncertainties he'd caused briefly.

Needless to say, the walk to Goodneighbor was mostly silent as Annie stumbled along soothing children, and the domestic scene was doing strange things to him, even as she led the toddler over severed limbs and rocked her brother in her arms. Hancock had never thought much about having kids – honestly, he'd always thought they'd cramp his style, not even considering the dangers they brought. Like whatever had happened to their parents.

As if sensing his attention, Annie looked up and caught his eyes as she crouched beside the child who was begging to be carried, from her arm gestures. She turned almost as red as her hair when he winked at her, grinning as she struggled to lift both children. She managed it, to his amusement, and seemed determined to carry them both despite the burning in her arms he could feel distantly through their bond. It occurred to him he could probably tote one of them, but children tended to find his face frightening, and he wasn't willing to listen to the wails of the child as they made their way home.

"I have no idea what I'm going to do with you two." Annie whispered to the infant in her arms as he stirred just outside the doors of Goodneighbor. Ever the gentleman, Hancock held the door open for her, and she rewarded him with another dazzling smile.

The sun was setting as he directed Fahrenheit to take Nora to see Doctor Amari and lead Annie and the kids to the state house. She looked exhausted, but the children looked even more so. They passed out almost as soon as she settled them down on the couch, and he settled in behind his desk. And then they were alone.

"Well, that's enough adventuring for me," She remarked as she stole the whiskey he was drinking from his hand with a grin, taking a drink. "Know anyone who wants some kids? Because I'm really not mother material and Nora's already got one missing." Passing the bottle back to him, he grinned in return, enjoying the fact she'd so easily accepted his presence. Hancock tried to resist the pull of the bond, begging to be completed while they were so close to one another.

"I don't, actually, but I'll keep my ear to the ground, sunshine." Annie practically preened at the term of endearment now that they were alone; it occurred to him she was probably a very private person. She had made herself comfortable sitting on the edge of his desk beside him as they passed the bottle between one another.

"I was really surprised that I ended up with a soulmate when we escaped the vault," Annie admitted, brushing her fingers through her hair as she let it tumble down past her shoulders. "Me and Nora were in cryostasis for a little over 200 years, apparently. Some sort of Vault-Tec experiment that nobody signed up for. It's just crazy to me that had the bombs not fell I would have never met you at all." Surprise rocketed through him, and had he had eyebrows, they would have been to his non-existent hairline.

"You're pre-war?" Was all he managed as she took another drink, and he tried not to think about how pretty she looked with her wild curls and slender neck as she tilted the bottle up.

"Sure am! I lived in Sanctuary after I finished college; me and Nora both signed up for Vault 111. I was an engineer, but my life was pretty awful. I'm actually enjoying the whole post-apocalypse thing going on." That explained a lot. "I honestly had expected to get through all the dirty details of my life before meeting you in person." Annie admitted, giving him a warm smile.

"Seriously?" Hancock laughed, building up the courage to brush his fingers against hers as he took the bottle, feeling his heart sink a bit when she flinched. Her cheeks were flushed a soft pink and she looked guilty for a minute.

"It's not a ghoul thing." She mumbled, glancing anywhere but him for a minute, her brow furrowed slightly as she contemplated her next words carefully. "I have… some sensory issues…" Seeming to stumble over what she was trying to get across, she reached out and touched his hand lightly, looking bashful. It was so cute he barely processed what she was telling him for a minute.

"For me, this is… almost painful. My brain doesn't process things the same way it does for other people; I'm more sensitive to physical things than normal." Tracing patterns into his ruined skin, she shifted uncomfortably at having to explain something so personal about herself.

"I just don't want you to think it's you, okay? It really isn't." With that she got quiet and he scrambled to come up with something comforting to say when her nervousness prickled against his skin. For once, he was at a loss for words. Luckily, about the time he opened his mouth to spit out something probably inappropriate, Fahrenheit came in to update them on Nora; the look on her face as Annie startled at the intrusion made him chuckle.

"She shattered her arm, so Amari is going to keep her at the Den for a few days; she said she may be able to take the kids off your hands if that's what you wanna do with 'em." She hesitated for all of a second before nodding.

"Sounds perfect."


End file.
